272 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



per annum should be maintained, the 66,000 additional miles by 

 1950 would require replacement of 8 million ties annually, and the 

 new construction that year at 3,000 ties per mile would itself require 

 9 million ties, making the total requirement for the year 1950 more 

 than 68 million ties. 



FUEL WOOD 



Fuel wood is next to lumber in quantity and represents some 28 

 percent of the total timber consumption of the United States. Fuel 

 wood cut is estimated at over 61 million cords as of 1929. Although 

 this is a large figure, it is considerably less than earlier estimates, 

 as might be expected in a mechanical age. 



The decline in fuel wood consumption is largely a matter of changes 

 in requirements and competition of other materials, paralleling 

 somewhat the changes in lumber requirements. Perhaps the first 



treat change in domestic fuel requirements came with the intro- 

 uction of the base-burner and coal. Without attempting to list 

 all changes chronologically, there may be mentioned gasoline and 

 gas stoves for cooking, the furnace or central heating plant using 

 coal, oil, and gas, and electricity with electric appliances. That 

 these changes are still under way is shown in the recent advances 

 in distribution of gas made possible by welded pipe. There were 

 over 40 thousand miles of natural-gas trunk lines in 1929. 



Considering wood as chiefly a domestic fuel, the extent of competi- 

 tion of other fuels is illustrated by an increase in domestic con- 

 sumers of natural gas from roughly a million in 1909 to 5 million in 

 1929. Domestic consumption of bituminous coal increased from 46 

 million tons in 1909 to 82 million tons in 1927, the latest year for 

 which this figure is available. The domestic consumption of anthra- 

 cite coal was approximately 48 million tons in 1927. 



It is impossible to arrive at actual displacement of wood by other 

 fuels from information available, but the above figures are at least 

 suggestive. At 7K tons per dwelling, the domestic coal consumption 

 of 130 million tons in 1927 would supply fuel for over 17 million 

 dwellings, or roughly the equivalent of all urban dwellings. This coal 

 consumption was supplemented by artificial and natural gas, fuel 

 oil, and other minor fuels. The typical domestic consumer consumes 

 more than one fuel; that is, there is an overlapping in number of 

 consumers of coal, oil, gas, electricity, and wood. Furthermore, coal, 

 oil, and gas compete with one another just as they compete with wood. 



The decline in fuel wood requirements has been very largely in the 

 urban field. And since consumption of wood for fuel is now largely 

 confined to rural sections where its use will most likely be maintained, 

 requirements may be approaching a minimum at current figures. The 

 general opinion is that consumption of fuel wood has actually increased 

 since 1929, due to present economic conditions. This may be only 

 temporary, but it is unmistakable evidence of advantages in having a 

 supply of fuel wood available. 



NAVAL STORES 



The term "Naval Stores" applies to rosin and spirits of turpentine 

 obtained from either living trees or the resin-impregnated stumpwood 

 and heartwood of dead trees of longleaf and slash pine of the south- 

 eastern and Gulf States. They are used in many industries for many 



